The participating clubs in the European Super League have been warned that their players could be banned from playing international football with their respective countries.
Furthermore, the clubs are likely to be banned from Champions League football as well.
While it is understandable that UEFA are infuriated with the situation and have sent out stern warnings for the 12 clubs involved in forming the European Super League, it is almost impossible to follow through with these threats.
There could be severe legal repercussions if UEFA decided to go down that route.
Florentino Perez to El Chiringuito: "Real Madrid and other SuperLeague clubs will NOT be excluded from this 2020/2021 Champions League. It won't happen, the law protects us. This is impossible".
The top 12 European clubs bring in the majority of the viewership when it comes to the Champions League and their respective domestic leagues.
Banning them from these competitions will not only take away a massive global fanbase it would hurt the TV revenues significantly. On the other hand, the club-owners are now facing a public backlash due to lack of competition in European Super League as the participation in ESL, is not performance based.
The absence of top-class players in these competitions will take away the appeal and excitement from other competitions, but its the fans who will ultimately decide the fate of this struggle.
It is important to note that the players are in no way responsible for the decisions regarding the European Super League, and to ban them from playing for their countries would be an unfair move from the authorities.
Both the parties have taken their respective positions, and as most of the pundits expected them to converge at certain point. As far as the clubs participating in the European League are concerned, they will have to come to some sort of agreement with UEFA as well.
Florentino Perez to Chiringuito: "We will speak to UEFA, as we said in the statement. We have to discuss with UEFA the 5 spots available in the #SuperLeague. UEFA has been working on the new format of the UCL, but I honestly don't understand it. We want to save football".
They cannot hope to run an independent European League riddled with controversies without a proper governing body.
Clubs like Bayern Munich and Paris Saint Germain have refused to throw their support behind the breakaway tournament and the ideal move now would be for all parties to come together and find some sort of middle ground where the members of the European Super League can get the reforms they are looking for and the UEFA Champions League is not crushed either.
It seems that the ESL clubs are looking for more revenue, more control and transparency. It will be interesting to see if UEFA can provide that.
Florentino Perez to El Chiringuito: "Why aren't UEFA and La Liga salaries public? Why haven't salaries been reduced like everyone else during the pandemic? We need more transparency. We know the salary of LeBron James but we don’t know the salary of the UEFA president".
Florentino Perez: "UEFA is a monopoly but it needs to be more transparent. We want to save football for the next 20 years, it is in a time of serious danger. If you win, you receive €120 to € 130m from UEFA but with #SuperLeague we will earn much more".
